Determination of creep crack growth kinetics of ABS via the C* approach at different temperatures

Abstract

Crack initiation and propagation under creep is one of the main failure modes of service equipment made of plastic. This paper explores the feasibility of using the creep C* integral approach to deduce creep crack growth data obtained for a polymeric material, specifically an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene polymer, which exhibits nonlinear mechanical behavior. Experimental creep crack growth data, measured at 60 and 80 °C, was used to obtain the relationship between the time rate of crack growth, da/dt, due to secondary creep and the applied value of C*. A master-curve could be determined, which describes experimental data at both temperatures. These promising results suggest that C* integral approach can be used as powerful and convenient tool to describe crack propagation of polymeric materials under secondary creep conditions. The approach may also be of interest for the prediction of creep lifetime for ductile polymers.